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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

In the office of the “Committee for Rare Mitzvos,” the phone didn’t stop ringing since the morning. R’ Leibush, the secretary, gave everyone the same answer. “We’ll look into it. We’ll let you know when we know.”

The truth is that even he was excited. A mitzva as rare as this, one didn’t get to fulfill every day. At about eleven o’clock, the answer came, “Yes, the identification is confirmed.” This news had them all bursting into joyous song, “LaYehudim Hoyesa Ora V’Simcha.” A delegation of rabbanim was sent to Sweden to speak with that professor and to convince him to cooperate.

Everything was ready. A few months earlier, a Swedish paper had a small ad in which a professor from one of the acclaimed universities in Sweden claimed that he found a genealogical tree that linked him back to biblical times. This news wouldn’t have excited anyone except that his ancestry went back to Parmashta, the son of Haman, the famous enemy of the Jews.

The news spread quickly. “We can fulfill the mitzva of erasing Amalek b’hiddur this year.”

The question was posed to the great poskim: By which death should this Amaleki be executed? The discussions went on heatedly for close to a year until one of the rabbis brought decisive proof from a verse, “And Yehoshua weakened Amalek and his people by the sword.”

Then the discussion became about, “What is a sword according to halacha?” The discussion went on heatedly for close to a year until with the help of archaeological findings and Machon HaMikdash, the desired sword was produced. It looked like a combination of a rake, razor and broomstick. No question, this is what Yehoshua bin Nun used!

The discussion than veered to address, “Which limb should the sword pierce?” The discussions went on heatedly for close to a year until the simple solution was finally proposed. The sword would be plunged into the heart al tenai (on condition) and then would slice the throat. This way, they would certainly fulfill their obligation according to all.

WAR AND PEACE

This Shabbos, we read parshas Ki Seitzei which concludes an interesting series of three parshiyos that are particularly connected to the Geula. We can assume that many readers are raising their eyebrows, wondering, “What is the connection between the three parshiyos of Reeh, Shoftim and Ki Seitzei? And how are these parshiyos connected to the Geula?”

The connection between these three parshiyos has to do with the mitzvos we learn in them, three mitzvos in the three parshiyos, one mitzva for each parsha which from a trio directly related to Geula. What are these mitzvos and what connection is there between them?

1-The mitzva of building the Beis HaMikdash. In parshas Reeh, the Torah dealt extensively with this subject, “the place which G-d will choose.” No fewer than sixteen times, “the place” or “the place that G-d will choose” is used. However, the Torah does not mention or even hint, even once, where that place is! In any case, that unidentified place is where we are commanded to build the Beis HaMikdash.

2-The mitzva of appointing a king. In parshas Shoftim, the Torah commands us to appoint a king to lead the people and fight the wars of G-d.

3-The mitzva of wiping out Amalek. At the end of parshas Ki Seitzei, the Torah commands us to annihilate Amalek, “from man to woman, infant and nursing baby.” (Yes, even babies, despite the protests of the UN.)

The Rambam states (beginning of Laws of Kings), “The Jewish people were commanded three mitzvos when they entered the land, to appoint a king over them… to annihilate the seed of Amalek… and to build the Beis HaBechira.” These three mitzvos are connected to one another in an inextricable manner. It’s not just that the Jewish people were commanded about these three mitzvos at the same time and place, but as long as the first mitzva is not completed, it’s impossible to do the second mitzva. And as long as the second mitzva is not done, it’s impossible to do the third mitzva. So, as long as we don’t have a king (from the house of Dovid and a descendant of Shlomo) it’s impossible to eradicate Amalek, and as long as Amalek exists, it’s impossible to build the Beis Ha’Mikdash.

This is one of the reasons brought in the Acharonim to answer the question, why don’t we build the Beis HaMikdash now. What are we waiting for?

Many of the Acharonim are inclined to say that even though building the Beis HaMikdash is one of the 248 positive mitzvos, and we must fulfill it, the time to do this mitzva has not yet arrived, because without a king to complete the wars of G-d and win, eradicate Amalek and bring us peace from all our enemies, the Beis HaMikdash cannot be built, even if the Knesset would decide to evacuate Al Aqsa (which should happen in any case!)

In other words, the three parshiyos and the three mitzvos create a sort of conceptual equilateral triangle. Not only are we commanded to carry out the mitzvos in this order, but even the mitzvos themselves are interdependent. These are not three disparate mitzvos whose sole connection is the order in which the Jewish people were commanded to carry them out, but the mitzvos themselves are considered one entity, three parts of one puzzle, with each part adding to and completing the other, with the completion of each detail dependent on the completion of the other components, because if we had a Beis HaMikdash without a king, the Beis HaMikdash itself would be considered lacking and incomplete.

THE WAR TO END ALL WARS

As relates to the Geula, we also find a special focus on this triad. At the end of his book, the Rambam writes, “If a king arises from the House of Dovid (i.e. the appointment of a king) and fights the wars of G-d (i.e. with Amalek, etc.) if he did this and was successful and he built the Mikdash in its place (i.e. building the Beis HaMikdash) then he is certainly Moshiach.”

From the Rambam we learn that the criteria by which we know who Moshiach is when he fulfills these three mitzvos.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between the three mitzvos is interdependent. The completion of one mitzva leads to the completion of the second mitzva and so on. This idea is only fully expressed through Moshiach. Since Moshiach will be the greatest king in the history of the Jewish people, therefore he will will bring us perfect peace. At the same time, victory over our enemies (Amalek etc.) makes Moshiach’s rule more complete!

Furthermore, since Moshiach represents G-d’s kingdom in the world, the completion of Moshiach’s kingdom and the achievement of victory over our enemies and the eradication of Amalek will lead to the fulfillment of the building of the third Mikdash, which is why it will be an eternal edifice built by G-d.

In light of all this, the Geula process is a clear progression: when Melech HaMoshiach is revealed imminently and he will destroy our enemies, the world will become refined and “clean” and then G-d will come and rest his Shechina in the world in the third Beis HaMikdash. This is the Geula shleima.

Despite what was said about the importance of war in the Geula process, it’s important to mention that the Rebbe said that when the Rambam speaks of war against our enemies before the Geula, this is only if the Geula comes in a way of “they don’t merit,” but if “we merit,” then “there is nobody to challenge it and you don’t need war.” What we need to do is fight now against the spiritual Amalek, the Amalek of doubt which confuses our service of G-d, the Amalek which is numerically equivalent to doubt is something we need to eradicate, annihilate, kill and destroy. We cannot allow room for doubts. We cannot be involved in the confusion and fear that doubts engender. We need to go out to war against them in order to ensure that in our hearts and minds there is only pure faith in G-d and His Torah. Through this spiritual war, we will merit a time when we won’t know of war anymore with the coming of Moshiach.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We will end with a story about the proper attitude to doubts in faith according to the teachings of Chabad. In the seventies, an American student met with the Rebbe. He took out a paper with many questions about faith that bothered him. The Rebbe began to listen to him and said that the answer to the questions would take time and many people were waiting outside who had waited months for their appointment.

“My suggestion is, enter a yeshiva here to learn for several weeks and after that, arrange another appointment with me, this time making it the last appointment of the night and then I will have time to speak to you.”

The student went to yeshiva. He was a serious young man and put himself into the learning and after a few weeks he had another meeting with the Rebbe. He happily reported about his studies and the friends he made and prepared to leave the room when the Rebbe said, “One minute, what about your paper?”

“What paper?” asked the student.

“The paper with your questions?”

“Oh that. It’s no longer relevant.”

Good Shabbos!

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